Southland College Prep Singers, Band to Perform with Grande Prairie Singers, Tracing History of Slavery in America, Sunday, March 9, 2014

Posted By richard barry, Community Contributor

Grande Prairie Singers will peform in concert with the Southland College Prep band and singers Sunday, March 9 at Faith United Protestant Church, Park Forest.

Grande Prairie Singers will peform in concert with the Southland College Prep band and singers Sunday, March 9 at Faith United Protestant Church, Park Forest. (Posted By richard barry, Community Contributor)

Posted By richard barry, Community Contributor

RICHTON PARK, IL.--February 25, 2014—Southland College Prep Charter High School’s singers and band, some 100 performers strong, will be special guests at the Grande Prairie Singers’ concert,“ I Remember When the Stars Fell,” a musical journey through the history of slavery in America.

The concert, open to the public, is scheduled on Sunday, March 9, 2014 at 4 p.m. in Faith United Protestant Church, 10 Hemlock Road, Park Forest.Advance tickets at $15 for adults; students $10 may be purchased by calling 708. 481.8684. Tickets at the door are $20 for adults and $10 for students. Dr. Stirling Culp, Southland College Prep Charter High School’s Director of Music, will lead the school’s singers in a repertoire which he describes as, “gorgeous and stirring songs and spirituals from Africa that trace the triumph over horrific injustice and are sure to move and uplift the spirit of our audience.”

The Grande Prairie Singers and Southland’s band and singers will perform music of famous arrangers and composers of the early African-American repertoire, such as Moses Hogan, H.T. Burleigh, William Grant Still, Evelyn LaRue Pittman and André Thomas as well as contemporary selections.

Images and narration of the writings of escaped slaves, freed slaves, slave owners, and abolitionists will weave together the stories and music of the historic times.

Among the songs to be performed will be “Amazing Grace,” “Precious Lord,” “Way Over in Beulah Land,” and “ In Bright Mansions,” Culp said. In addition to Culp, a tenor who will perform, other guest artists include sopranos Dorothy Canady and Kimberly Jones and Cornelius Johnson, tenor.

Joseph Lawrence will conduct Southland College Prep’s Band.

The Grande Prairie Singers, http://www.grandeprairiechoral.org/index.html under the direction of Jo Rodenburg, are recognized as one of the region’s premier arts organizations. The Singers are heralded for their passion for the vocal arts and for breathing life into classic and modern masterworks of choral literature.

The group, which began in 1977 as the Park Forest Singers, draws voices from 28 suburbs and villages, whose ages range from 17 to 89. The Grande Prairie Singers, comprised of doctors, students, engineers, teachers, accountants and grandparents, gather weekly from across Chicago’s Southland community to perfect their craft and revel in each other’s love of choral music.